


He Would

by kusattame



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cute, First Meetings, Fluff, How Do I Tag, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-08 13:36:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18624331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kusattame/pseuds/kusattame





	He Would

 

He knocked at the old brown door for the fifth and last time and decided that indeed there was no one to open it. The stairs were colder than the rainy october night out there and his fingertips were starting to get numb. 

 

He was there because Ace told him to go before himself and added he would be there too in an hour. That being said two hours and fifteen minutes, Zoro gave up on the idea of waiting and after shooting a quick text to Ace, he picked up his backpack and took his leave. 

 

He couldn’t blame Ace for the situation because the brunette was stuck in a conference that he had no way of skipping and he couldn’t blame his own flatmate Luffy because he locked the door and left the city before asking Zoro if he had any keys.  

 

Ace’s flatmate, who was supposed to be at home when Zoro got there was not home either, and it didn’t surprise him. That said flatmate, Sanji, had been a myth for Zoro because he had only heard of the guy and that was all. Of course he wouldn’t be in the place either when Zoro needed a shelter.

 

His phone buzzed with an answer from Ace telling how sorry he was. Well, again Zoro blamed it on the no one. Shit happens, right? Apparently he was deemed to suffer that day and he was not in his souls to complain being dead tired he was. 

 

But if only that mystery flatmate had been there, if only it was, then things would be awesome because Zoro was dripping wet from head to toe, thanks to the earlier rain, and he had no money or cards on him because he had left home for a quick run and turned back to find Luffy two cities away from where he had first left him. Then he had to go to his class drenched in sweat, barely making it in because damned security had been strict on checking IDs. He informed Ace on the phone and he told Zoro to go to his own apartment, that Sanji should be home and that he would be there too in an hour at most. 

 

To be honest Zoro was starting to think that this Sanji guy was the product of Ace’s sorry brain, that there was no one like that because it was impossible for them to not meet considering how much time Zoro spent there at their apartment. 

 

But there he was with little to no information about the guy. If only they had met then Zoro would have the legacy to call him. Yeah. 

 

He typed how deceived he felt because there was no one called Sanji and Ace sent him a set of annoying emojis. 

 

A sigh left him, considering how wrong he was because of course such guy existed. Luffy knew him too. Nami knew about him too. There was a whole room for him in the house. 

 

While walking down the stairs, he thought the things he knew about the mystery friend wouldn’t even get past number of his fingers. 

 

The first thing was the fact that he was busy as hell. Zoro himself was not busy at all, he had several scholarships and only went to school few times a week. He had his time to his kendo training which could be considered as the only hobby of his.

 

On the other hand this Sanji guy seemed like the busiest person on the earth, he both went to school and worked as an assistant chef on one of those fancy restaurants that Zoro wouldn’t even dare to look at because even with scholarships, a student was a student. 

 

That brought him to the second thing he knew, the fact that Sanji was able to cook things that could be served to gods. Zoro had only one chance to get a taste, though Ace said Sanji made sure to fed him everyday. In Zoro’s case, when he was lazing around one day, Sabo, the most responsible one of the brothers, invited him over to meal saying Sanji had to left because of some emergency at the restaurant he had been working and his share of meal was left untouched. Whom Zoro was to say no to free food, even though it would get all cold until he went. It turned out, however, the meal was actual heaven on earth and Zoro doubted it would be any better when it had been still hot. Sabo watched him with a strange expression on his face and Ace joked about Sanji putting all the good things in him to his cooking until there was no good left to his personality. 

 

And it was the whole third thing about Sanji, that he had been a part time demon as well. Zoro himself had hard time imagining anyone more evil than Nami and Luffy but he came to learn that Sanji could be very threatening, even to Luffy. 

 

One day he came home to find Luffy and Ace as pale as a sheet, scared out of their minds. Ace told him about how Sanji had never been home. So hungry as cows, Luffy and he tried to cook some spaghetti and somehow ended up bending one of the blades and getting caught by Sanji there and then which resulted in furious cook kicking them out quite literally, and then calling them back for dinner after some time. Zoro had to refuse that only one offer because of his own promise to eat with Mihawk. 

 

Although this surprising quality of his, Sanji had, and that being the fourth thing, an unreasonable fear of bugs. Zoro had seen it himself. He was there when a high pitched yell summoned Ace to the room next to bathroom which belonged to the mystery friend. Ace excused himself from the game they were playing and said he would be back in a minute. Zoro had just shrugged that time. He had heard Ace’s loud squeal as well. Barely five minutes later Ace came back with a laugh, and before he could ask about the incident, the front door slammed shut. “He despises anything tinier than toes,” told Ace and laughed off the incident. The following day, however, Zoro learned how much the guy really hated bugs, when he commanded Ace to clean the house spotless until midnight if he wanted to eat more of his food. And because cleaning had been Ace’s anyways. 

 

Ace called Nami there, begging her to stay until at least Sanji had come because the guy turned into a mushroom with any woman in present. It was ridiculous to the point that he found himself in trouble with every woman he approached because some way or another they found a way to get advantage of him. That part he had heard from Ace and Nami, and he himself caught him on the phone one day while he was using the bathroom. 

 

Zoro had been there to relieve himself but he found himself eavesdropping. At first he thought the man was singing, his tone had been sweet and soft, nothing like that high pitched scream he had heard before and it was almost shooting until he actually heard what he had been saying. The talk was mainly about the woman, who had cheated on the guy apparently, and he was telling her it was fine and Zoro understood what his friends meant. He left the bathroom as quickly as he could, and did not asked why when Ace told them to go home early afterwards. 

 

The cold was starting to get under his skin when he decided that it was not the best time and place to think about Ace’s flatmate. It was best to return his own place and call a locksmith. 

 

“Hey- wait!” A male voice called from the upstairs he had just left. He stopped and climbed up few stairs to see clearly who it was. 

 

All he could spot was a blond head peeking from the door to his friend’s apartment. He sighed in relief and made his way up again. 

 

“Sorry I’m not-” The man blabbered, sniffing softly. “I’ve been sleeping.”

 

Zoro was aware he had been staring and it was rude but he was taken aback by the sight of the man he had marked as imaginary a moment ago. He searched his mind about Ace or any of their friends mentioning anything about Sanji being the prettiest human around. 

 

He had fair skin, even fairer than Nami, probably because he had not time to waste under the sun. He had almost the same build with Zoro who had been quite proud of his good shape. A white basic tshirt took out his blond, chin length hair and deep blue eyes. The eyes that were looking back at him questioningly. He decided to be honest and laid out his inner confusion with a simple ask. 

 

“Huh?”

 

The man’s gaze took his sight first then he spoke with more intention. “I’m Sanji. You’re Zoro, right? Ace’s friend? He informed me about you coming.”

 

Zoro nodded dumbly. He needed to cut the crap and act like a decent person immediately. Sanji gestured him to follow and headed inside, his bare foot tapping lightly against the wood. His movements seemed elegant. 

 

“Let me find you dry clothes,” Sanji said before turning around, “Anything particular you want?”

 

He looked down at his clothes and flinched. “I can borrow from Ace,” he replied, gesturing to his friend’s room. Sanji looked tired and half asleep so he didn’t want to bother. “Thanks anyway.”

 

“Yeah,” Sanji nodded faintly and gestured the opposite direction himself, “If you need anything, I’ll be in kitchen to cook us something.”

 

In Ace’s room Zoro finally had a chance to groan softly, both at his stupidity and his friends because how could they skip to mention their friend being... Too much. His aesthetics slapped Zoro in the face, he was taken aback. 

 

As if sensed his crisis, a text from Ace lit his phone’s screen. 

 

_ Make urself at home, see u in an hour. _

 

Zoro wondered how Ace knew he had been in then remembered his blond companion.  _ Oh god.  _

 

He changed into a random short and Ace’s favorite sweatshirt as a kind of revenge.

 

When he decided to stop acting like a creep, he marched towards the kitchen, eyes immediately glued to the man’s actions. 

 

Sanji was moving around with practised ease, cutting some green onions into a tinier size, occasionally stirring the boiling pot on the stove. 

 

He must have sensed Zoro’s arrival but he did no move to acknowledge his presence. It was Zoro who ended the silence with a question. 

“Is it egg noodles?” 

 

“U-huh,” Sanji nodded before meeting his gaze for a second, “Do you like it?”

 

“It’s not my favorite food,” replied Zoro with uncertainty, “Do I have to feel something special towards egg noodles?”

 

Sanji laughed quietly, his tiredness leaking from his tone. “No, appreciating it as a food is fine enough.”

 

He waved a dismissive hand, “Then I’ll just appreciate. Do you need help?”

 

“It’s okay, you can just,” the blonde gestured around, loss of words for a minute before recovering, “Sit or whatever. It’s a small kitchen, not suitable for two people to work.”

 

Zoro couldn’t disagree on that and suddenly a thought came up, “It makes sense how Ace can’t get out of here without starting any fire.”

 

The man’s steely gaze was on him in instant, “Are you serious?”

 

“Yes, just-” he cut himself off and walked towards the stove, his shoulder brushing the other man’s. “I can totally imagine him putting a pan on the stove like this,” he pretented to put something on the stove, keeping his hips close to the device. “And turning his back to grab a fork or something to set his shirt on fire like this-” he kept his position and tried to reach for the drawers where they kept their forks, body almost laying down on the counter. He wriggled his hips to underline his point and grinned up to the man who watched him with amusement all over his features. 

 

“Well I can’t argue,” Sanji said, holding his arm to prevent him from falling and gently helped him to stand properly. “Especially because he’s a dumbass for wearing his shirts unbuttoned which end up swinging everywhere while moving around and hey it makes sense to me too now!”

 

Zoro could totally imagine Ace in his position but with an open shirt which caught flames as soon as he maneuvered to get a fork. He barked out a laugh and felt physically lighter when the man mirrored the gesture. 

 

“Let’s not forget his tragic past with fires,” Zoro added, having a painful flashback to every fire incident Ace had when he was with Zoro. “It’s like he’s born to burn.”

 

“Born exclusively to burn my kitchen equipment,” Sanji laughed but at the same time hid his face in a palm, groaning in protest. 

 

Zoro patted his shoulder and retreated, giving the blonde his space back, “I’m sorry for you dude.”

 

“So Luffy’s less of a trouble you say?”

 

“Do you believe those words?”

 

“Of course I don’t,” the blonde snickered and added the onions into pot. “I know he kidnapped a chimpanzee from zoo and managed to keep him at your place.”

 

“I was there,” he said, taking his turn to groan out of frustration. “It was the longest week ever.”

 

“I can’t imagine having one around for an hour.”

 

“No it was not the monkey, he just lived very decently for an animal.”

 

“So what was the problem?” The blonde was watching him with interest, having long been done with the noodle. Zoro raked a hand through his hair still slightly damp from the rain. 

 

“Luffy can be overly enthusiastic about anything. He declared the monkey as his best friend, took him to his own classes and tried to sneak it inside the hospital he’s volunteering”

 

Sanji was grinning wide, obviously amused by the story. “Did he get arrested for that last one?”

 

Zoro clicked his tongue. “He could have been but Smoker decided to have some mercy on him after that doctor convinced him.”

 

“Doctor? Was it Chopper?” The man came closer and sat down in front of him on the table. 

 

“No, Smoker wouldn’t take a child’s words,” he leaned on his elbows, “It was Trafalgar.”

 

Sanji gasped, eyebrows rising in interest, “Are you fucking kidding me? Law helped him get away? “

 

“What are you so surprised for? He’s crushing after Luffy since forever.”

 

“Luffy?!” Sanji gaped at him and he nodded. “Best fucking news ever.”

 

“They’re not fucking yet but I bet they’ll get there in.. Five months? Who knows.” Zoro commented and watched the man choke on the pure air. 

 

“Shut up marimo, I didn’t mean it like that.” Sanji held a threatening fist up and quickly stood up. 

 

“I’m just saying,” he shrugged and laid his head on the table. He wanted to sleep like he always did but the company of other man was too pleasing to do so. He opted to learn more about him. ”So you cook for your life.”

 

“I feed people,” Zoro only heard other man’s steps then a bowl laid out in front of his face, “Like this.”

 

His head immediately perked up to meet the blond’s smirk. He couldn’t get himself to focus on that though, because of the heavenly smell. “How do you make them smell this good? It’s impossible”

 

“I’m glad you liked,” Sanji beamed at him, eyes turning into crescent moons. It was a sight that took him off guard. Zoro was not a fan of cute things or cute people at all but he wanted to squish his face, ruffle his golden hair, pick him up and turn him around to see how much further his smile could get. 

 

He shook his thoughts away and took a mouthful of noodles. It only added to his frustrations. He stared into the bowl, “I liked? I’d kill for these. It’s like,” he took another bite, tasting even better than the first one, “Munching on the clouds.”

 

Sanji hummed happily around his chopsticks and they fell into a comfortable silence which lasted around few minutes until Sanji broke it with a question. 

 

“What do you do for your life? I see you around more than I see myself in mirror.”

 

“What do you mean you see me?” Zoro looked back at the man and furrowed. “This is the first time I see you.”

 

“Huh?” Sanji seemed surprized for a second before sighing, “It’s probably because you’re always sleeping around and I don’t have time to stay in my own apartment.”

 

“Urgh,” Zoro could feel the blood rushing to his ears. “Back to your question, I don’t work- I’m already taking four scholarships and my dad also helps me off with rent and such.”

 

“Oh imagine being a marimo,” Sanji put a hand to his chest dramatically to guide Zoro’s attention to there. The pale hand had several cuts and burns but still clean and somehow pretty. His shoulders were wide and he seemed like he had been working out. His collarbones were delicate and his neck-

 

“I’m not a marimo,” he blurted out in panic when he realized he had been ogling the man and said the first thing came to his mind, “Y-you dart brow.”

 

“Excuse me?!”

 

Zoro laughed at the man’s expression and offered a napkin. “I guess you were serious saying you spend more time looking at me than your brows.”

 

The blonde huffed out a curse and furiously attempted to straighten his brows.

 

“No-” Zoro reached out and held the man’s wrist. “Don’t bother, it’s fine. It’d be awkward without them because I’ve already coded you in my brain with those.”

 

The man patted his hand away but made no further move to put his brows on shape, he just threw a light hearted threat.“Eat your food or I’ll make you eat my shoe”

 

“I have no doubt you’ll.”

 

“Are you testing my nerves,” he asked, irritated.

 

Zoro grinned and waved his hands, “No- no i’m serious, Ace talks about you like,” he chewed on his chopsticks while trying to find the exact words, “like you shot Bambi’s mom if you get what I mean.”

 

“For real?” The same grin took over his handsome features.

 

“Sometimes he fears for his life.”

 

His words took a loud laugh out of the man, “It’s the best thing you’ve ever said to me.”

 

Zoro wondered what kind of person would find joy in such words and thought he would totally love the idea of his name scaring people for nothing. He was not a bully, he wouldn’t hurt even a single bird but he loved being terrifying just like Robin. She was the scariest and coolest person on the planet and Zoro too would like that kind of reputation. So would Sanji.

 

“You’re so,” he started while watching the man continued to laugh, “interesting.”

 

“Thanks,” Sanji said, taking a mouthful of noodles. “I can say that you’re much cooler when you’re awake.”

 

Zoro nodded and they fell into another strange yet comfortable silence. From what he had been taught, Zoro respected the food as the source of their energy so he usually ate in silence as a sign of gratitude. Sanji seemed okay with that, not really being conservative himself. 

 

As they slowly finished their bowls, Sanji got up and took his bowl to the sink. Zoro followed the suit. 

 

“You don’t have to help, take it as my apology for making you wait on rain.” 

 

“I-” Zoro started but couldn’t think of anything to say. What was he going to say? That he was not the kind of person to expect apologies? That he hated owing to someone, that he hated being owed to. 

 

“Move over,” he said and without waiting for the man to comply, he lightly shoved him aside with his elbow. “We ate together, we will clean together.” 

 

“Wise words,” Sanji handed him a brush and detergent, grinning. “Coming from a marimo.” 

 

“From a marimo to a dartboard.”

 

“Hmm. Says the seaweed.”

 

“Swirly-swirl.”

 

“Golf field.”

 

“Rolling brows.”

 

“Oxygen s-” he stopped midway to perk his head up. Before Zoro could ask what it was, he heard his friend’s cheerful voice. 

 

“Guys! Have you killed each other yet?”

 

Zoro turned his gaze to the man beside him then to the dishes they were doing together. It definitely wasn’t a murder scene. Why would they kill each other anyway? 

 

Ace quickly passed them to get to the fridge and greeted them afterwards with an apple on his mouth. He gestured between them, “I thought you wouldn’t fit well.”

 

Sanji tched and patted Zoro’s shoulder. “We were talking about moving in together.” 

 

Ace rolled his eyes and sat down on the table. 

 

“No seriously,” Sanji continued with more earnesty, “I’ve always wanted to keep a marimo.”

 

The freckled man looked at Zoro questioningly and he shrugged in response. 

 

“Free fancy food.” 

 

“But Sanji-” Ace’s eyes went wide and he held his heart as if in unbearable pain, “You wouldn’t leave me, right my sunshine?”

 

“I would.”


End file.
